What we know about STRICKLAND Frederick GJ

Born in Gillingham, Kent, Frederick is seen in the 1911 census as a grocer’s errand boy.

He is recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as being the son of John George Stickland, of East Budleigh.

Shoeing and Carriage Smiths, abbreviated to S&CS, often had a small horseshoe badge as a symbol of rank, which was equivalent of a private in the Royal Engineers, although it appears to have been phased out towards the end of the war.

Shoeing and Carriage Smith 254645 Stickland served at the Signal Depot at Haynes Park, and died of illness on 21 July 1917, aged 21, in Cambridge Hospital.

He is buried in All Saints Churchyard in East Budleigh, and is also remembered with honour on the village’s war memorials.